The is a lay-oriented Nichiren Buddhist group. It was founded by

Tanaka Chigaku was a Japanese Buddhist scholar and preacher of Nichiren Buddhism, orator, writer and ultranationalist propagandist in the Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa periods. He is considered to be the father of Nichirenism, the fiercely ultranatio ...

in 1880 as and renamed in 1884 before adopting its current name in 1914.

History

The lay Nichiren Buddhist organization''Britannica Kokusai Dai-hyakkajiten'' article "Kokuchūkai". 2007. Britannica Japan Co. now known as the Kokuchūkai was founded by

in 1880 as ''Rengekai'' ("Lotus Blossom Society") and renamed ''Risshō Ankokukai'' in 1884 before adopting its current name in 1914.Eiichi Ōtani
''Ajia no Bukkyō-nashonarizumu no Hikaku-bunseki''
("A Comparative Analysis of Buddhist Nationalism in Asia"). International Research Center for Japanese Studies. p 115 The group's modern name is derived from a passage in the ', a writing of the founder of Nichiren Buddhism, the 13th-century monk

Nichiren Nichiren (16 February 1222 – 13 October 1282) was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period. Nichiren declared that the Lotus Sutra alone contains the highest truth of Buddhist teachings suited for the Third Age of ...

, which reads . Originally based in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of ...

, the group shifted its head office to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kama ...

and Miho,

Shizuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the north ...

before finally moving back to Tokyo.Jacqueline I. Stone
"By Imperial Edict and Shogunal Decree: politics and the issue of the ordination platform in modern lay Nichiren Buddhism"
IN: Steven Heine; Charles S. Prebish (ed.) ''Buddhism in the Modern World''. New York: Oxford University Press. 2003. . pp 197-198. The group is currently based in Ichinoe,

Edogawa-ku is a special ward located in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. It takes its name from the Edo River that runs from north to south along the eastern edge of the ward. In English, it uses the name Edogawa City. The easternmost of the wards, it shares b ...

Teachings

Among the group's principal teachings are to return to the teachings Nichiren and unite the various sects of

Nichiren Buddhism Nichiren Buddhism ( ja, 日蓮仏教), also known as Hokkeshū ( ja, 法華宗, meaning ''Lotus Sect'') is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) and is one o ...

. The group's teachings are characterized by a strong form of

Nichirenism Nichirenism (日蓮主義, ''Nichirenshugi'') is the nationalistic interpretation of the teachings of Nichiren. The most well known representatives of this form of Nichiren Buddhism are Nissho Inoue and Tanaka Chigaku, who construed Nichiren's teac ...

. The group's sacred text is the ''

Lotus Sutra The ''Lotus Sūtra'' ( zh, 妙法蓮華經; sa, सद्धर्मपुण्डरीकसूत्रम्, translit=Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram, lit=Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma, italic=) is one of the most influ ...

'' and their main object of reverence is the , a

mandala A mandala ( sa, मण्डल, maṇḍala, circle, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for e ...

supposedly made by

on the island of Sado.''Risshō Ankoku no jitsugen e''
on the Kokuchūkai's official website.

Membership

At its height in 1924, the group's membership was estimated at over 7000. The literary figures

Takayama Chogyū was a Japanese author and literary critic. He influenced Japanese literature in the late Meiji period with his blend of romantic individualism, concepts of self-realization, aesthetics, and nationalism. However, many of Chogyū's works seem cr ...

and

Kenji Miyazawa was a Japanese novelist and poet of children's literature from Hanamaki, Iwate, in the late Taishō and early Shōwa periods. He was also known as an agricultural science teacher, a vegetarian, cellist, devout Buddhist, and utopian social ...

. were members of the Kokuchūkai for a time. The group's official website continues to claim them,"Takayama Chogyū"
on the Kokuchūkai's official website.
on the Kokuchūkai's official website. but they ultimately rejected Tanaka's nationalistic views.

Publications

The group's publications include the monthly magazines and .

References

Works cited

External links

Official website
(Japanese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kokuchukai Religious organizations based in Japan Nichiren Buddhism Japanese new religions Buddhist new religious movements 1914 establishments in Japan Japanese nationalism